Closing and Closed: Click Bulletin Board and Microsoft TerraServer

The USGS Center for LIDAR Information Coordination and Knowledge, aka CLICK, will shut down its bulletin board May 9 due to securty mandates from the Deparment of Interior. You might remember CLICK had a near brush with death last fall (APB coverage).

TerraServer, that great Microsoft Research Project to show off the power of SQL Server, has been shut down since its been overshadowed by Microsoft and other mapping services. As the annuncement makes clear, this service did a lot to move online mapping ahead:

The site was originally launched as Microsoft TerraServer on June 22, 1998 as a demonstration of the scalability of Microsoft SQL Server database product. At the time, it was the first web site to successfully host high resolution satellite and aerial data. Later we added USGS topographic maps (DRGs) and the USGS Urban Area natural color imagery. In addition to imagery, Microsoft Research Maps pioneered the use of SOAP/XML to build a mapping web service and deployed an OpenGIS compliant mapping service.

I recall seeing it used via WMS in an open source implementation way back in my GIS Monitor days. And, I recall the first time I heard Microsoft invite local govenrments to host their imagery on its site. We've come a long way.